COMEDIANS IN CHARGE Australia’s favourite (only?) genuine fake Russian choir Dustyesky come together to launch local comedian Mark Swivel’s bid for a seat in Senate! The Together Party’s manifesto Making Australia Slightly Better than Average Again™ leads its ticket for a NSW seat in the federal Senate on 18 May. ‘Canberra is a toxic mess disconnected from what people want – gutsy government and a fairer deal for ordinary people,’ Swivel says. Swivel is the MC of Dustyesky. They’ve been on The Project, Weekend Sunrise and all over ABC radio. ‘We sing songs of suffering and despair to fill your hearts with love and joy!’ Swivel said. The Russians love them after the choir was discovered by Moscow TV Channel 1 News. Swivel and Dustyesky will be at the Hotel Brunswick for Saturday’s Campaign Launch for The Together Party from 4 till 6pm. The funniest Polli Pub Quiz you will ever see – and other surprises.
THREE COMEDIANS WALKED INTO A SURF CLUB…
SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL
The Byron Comedy Fest are excited to present The Comedy Collective, a triple bill that features Dave Thornton, Mel Buttle, and Nikki Britton, three sharply insightful and irreverent voices on the Australian comedy scene. Dave Thornton has an easy charisma that has seen him become a regular on The Project. He spent four years as Fox FM’s breakfast show host Fifi Box, before ditching the big bucks to follow his first love: standup comedy. He can be seen on Hughesy We Have a Problem, Channel 9’s 20 to 1, and he’s even tried his hand at acting… on House Husbands! Nikki Britton also has a penchant for acting. Warm, rapid fire, and self-deprecating she’s appeared on ABC’s Comedy Up Late, and on The Comedy Channel as apart of the Just For Laughs Festival. Her most recent solo show Romanticide was nominated for Best Comedy at FringeWorld in Perth. You might know her from the popular web series Sheila and previously toured 51 Shades of Maggie Muff, where she played an Irish woman – touring for two years to soldout crowds and critical acclaim. And then there’s Mel. No buts about Buttle, she’s bloody brilliant. She is an incredible storyteller. Her comedy show Dog Bitch had audiences rolling over begging for more of Mel’s observations and her ability to create on-the-spot characters that are both hysterical and spot on. She has a regular column for the Courier Mail; she appeared on Please Like Me, and has written for ABC’s Ronny Cheng International Student and Network Ten’s This Week Live. If you love cooking shows, then you’ll recognise her from Bake Off, where she teams up with colleague and comedian Clair Hooper! The Comedy Collective are all about keeping it real. Saturday 18 May at the Byron Surf Club – Tix are $50 at byroncomedyfest.com.
With more than 30 different films, the Moro Spanish Film Festival screening at Palace Byron Bay Cinemas over May 10– 26 promises audiences a true cinematic cultural celebration. The program offers dramas, comedies, thrillers and documentaries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and of course Spain, and this year the festival also throws the spotlight on female directors. The Spanish Film Festival’s opening night promises to be a night to remember as guests enjoy a pre-film sangria, and a post-film fiesta in the new cinema’s spacious foyer, with drinks and delicious tapas plus music from Spanish guitarist Bart Stenhouse. The openingnight film Champions, Javier Fesser’s critically acclaimed, awardwinning box-office smash hit, is a ‘comedic slam-dunk’, a crowdpleasing, feelgood film about the importance of trust, sympathy, and breaking down prejudice. As part of its Spotlight on Female Directors, the festival features 11 films from established directors and fresh new voices, including The Good Girls, a scathing and glamorous depiction of the wives of upper-class men in 1982 Mexico. Break, a comedy/drama about six old friends who reunite for a weekend away with their children only to have revelations of secrets, lies, unrequited desires, and accumulated frustrations arise. In Carmen & Lola, Bilbao-born writer/director Arantxa Echevarría and her exceptional nonprofessional cast deliver an empathetic portrayal of forbidden love in a repressive society that is inspiring, necessary, and beautiful. Also sure to be popular are 70 Big Ones featuring barrel-loads of intrigue, suspense, and action with a perfect peppering of black humour; A March To Remember, a recreation of real-life events from March 1976 when a general strike was called in the Spanish city of Vitoria and five workers were murdered by the central government; and the debut feature Love Beats, Roberto Buseo’s rollercoaster tale of heartbreak and joy starring newcomer Gonzálo Fernández and Spanish-British actor/model Charlotte Vega. Looking For a Boyfriend… For My Wife is an entertaining and heartfelt comedy about a man in a matrimonial crisis who cooks up a foolish scheme to trick his wife into wanting to separate, and in Super Crazy actress Natalia Oreiro delivers a powerhouse performance of energy and charisma as a woman who takes a remedy that makes her unable to stop speaking her mind. There’s no shortage of gripping thrillers and heart-stopping dramas including Rojo, a critically lauded, superbly sinister and stylish thriller from Benjamin Nais that lays bare the complacency and corruption of pre-coup Argentina, and Common Blood, Miguel Cohan’s wicked Argentinian thriller featuring powerhouse performances by Latin American titans Óscar Martínez and Paulina García. The 2019 Moro Spanish Film Festival. 10–26 May at Palace Byron Bay Cinemas. More info available at the cinema and online at www.palacecinemas.com.au.
SEE MORE OF ANDREW SEAN GREER ABOUT Byron Writers Festival is bringing Pulitzer prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer to town on Wednesday 8 May to talk about his book that took the literary world by storm, Less. Less is a comic novel that tracks the adventures of a lovelorn, dejected, and gay writer Arthur Less, whose mishaps and misfortunes reveal the aches and insecurities of middle age. The first comic novel to win a Pulitzer in years, Less
has since appeared on bestseller lists, received rave reviews and continues to make cultural waves via its hapless antihero protagonist. As Ron Charles from The Washington Post rightly said, ‘As a novel, it’s delightful. As a Pulitzer winner, it’s a unicorn.’ Andrew Sean Greer is the author of bestsellers The Confessions of Max Tivoli and Less. He has taught at a number of universities, been a TODAY Show pick, a
LESS New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Andrew Sean Greer will appear in conversation with local author Jesse Blackadder. 6pm Wednesday 8 May at the Byron Theatre. Tickets from $25 via byronwritersfestival.com/whats-on or call 6685 5115.
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Saturday 4 May, 8pm – CLUB MULLUM
Free courtesy bus, free entry, $8 cocktails www.clubmullum.com www.echo.net.au/byron-echo Byron Shire Echo archives
lëƷ Ǩǽ ǩǧǨǰ The Byron Shire Echo 35